Jamaica (Saturday, Day 7)

Because our flight was scheduled to leave a little after noon and our resort was a couple hours away from the airport, we didn't get to do much before leaving Jamaica. We got up early to get our luggage ready, because we were supposed to leave it outside our door to be picked up. We stopped by the Cafe and got some pastries for breakfast as well as some muffins and scones for snacks on the plane. Then, we headed to the lobby to wait for our shuttle.

The ride back to the airport was a little scarier than getting to the resort, just because this time we were driving on the side of the road nearest to edge of the mountain. Nonetheless, we made it to the airport with no problems. We ate at Margaritaville in the airport, just like we did the last time.

The flight back to Charlotte went without a hitch, but of course the customs area was so full that we had to wait on the plane for awhile after landing. This made us nervous because we only had an hour and 15 minutes between flights, and during that time, we had to get through immigration to get back into the country, get our luggage, go through customs, go through security again, and then board the plane before it left. It took so long to get through customs that we were really scared we would miss our flight. Fortunately for us, most of the people on the connecting flight were also in the customs line, so the flight took off quite a bit later than anticipated because there would have been very few people on the flight had they not waited. The funny part was that as we boarded the plane, we saw one of our bags being lifted onto the plane, so our baggage almost beat us there.

Speaking of baggage....when we got to Louisville, we found that one of our bags had made it (apparently the one we had seen) but the other did not, which made no sense, seeing that we had checked both bags at the exact same time. There were four couples that this happened to as well. Luckily, the airline made arrangements to deliver it to our house the next day, even though it was more than a two hour drive.

Once we got that mess figured out, we stopped at Culver's to grab some dinner to eat on the way and headed home. Eric's parents brought Anya to our house so we could just go home without having to stop somewhere else. We were so happy to see Ani and I think she was really happy to see us. She was up much later than normal that night, but I was okay with that because we definitely wanted to see her when we got home.

So the next question is: Where are we headed next? I don't know where we will go for our 10 year anniversary. Who knows how things will be at that point? For now, we are planning another European adventure in early May 2012 and this time, Anya will come with us. We are thinking Madrid, Budapest, Vienna (with a day trip to Bratislavia), and the Middle Rhine in Germany!

Jamaica (Wednesday, Day 4)

Wednesday, Day 4

I was exhausted Wednesday morning because I hadn’t slept much the night before, but I was able to get up and go to breakfast at The Bayside. Then, we spent the morning doing absolutely nothing on the beach, which was great, considering I was so tired. We had lunch at Bluefield’s. Again, we ordered the Bammie and the Ackie and this time, we also tried a Chicken Patty, though the “patty” was more like a dry dumpling instead of a “patty” like we know it. Eric had the Red Snapper Filet Sandwich and I had Curried Goat. Yes, I said goat. I had never had goat before, so I thought I would try it. The great thing about an all-inclusive resort is that if you don’t like what you order, you can order something else. However, the goat wasn’t bad, though it was spicy because of the curry. It tasted similar to beef. After lunch, we headed to the pool and then took a short nap on the beach bed. Then, we headed back to the room to get ready for dinner because we had been invited to the Returnee’s Dinner.

When you go back to Sandals after being there at least once, you are invited to a special dinner for only returning guests. We had debated going because we didn’t want to miss out on all the other restaurants but people on the forums insisted that this was the best meal they had all week, and I’m so glad we didn’t miss it. It was a 4-course meal and it was amazing. This is what we had:

South Coast Butter poach Lobster Medallion and Cheese Filled Ravioli with Lime Tarragon Beurre Blanc

Freshly nix Leaves of Lettuce accompanied with Charred Mango and Pineapple served with Vine Ripen Tomato and Red Wine reduction

Grilled rubbed Chicken Breast mounted on Pumpkin sweet Potato mash served with Coconut Shrimp Run-Down, seasonal Vegetables and Au-Jus

Spanish Flan with Peppercorn Biscotti and Strawberry Sauce

Blue Mountain Coffee or Tea

Of course, this was complete with wine! Even though I was still scared to eat as much as I wanted due to the previous night, I was still able to enjoy the meal. It was definitely the fanciest meal we’d ever had!

After dinner, we headed over to the Le Cabaret for White Night and the Chocolate Buffet. Each week, there is a White Night where people are invited to wear their best white clothes and there is a buffet of chocolate around 10 pm. It was supposed to be outside, but it had rained pretty hard earlier that evening, so they had to move things inside. The chocolate buffet was really nice but there wasn’t a whole lot left by the time we got to the buffet, but we probably didn’t need it anyway.

Jamaica (Tuesday, Day 3)

Tuesday, Day 3

Tuesday morning we had breakfast at Eleanor’s, which is the Caribbean restaurant that serves an a la carte breakfast. We had a fruit tray to start and then I had Eggs Ranchero (egg, sausage, and cheese in a tortilla), bacon, hash brown, and a pancake and Eric had Eggs Benedict, hash browns, and bacon. We had to wait a little bit for a table and the service was a little slow so it took awhile to actually do breakfast, but we didn’t have anywhere to be so it wasn’t a big deal.

After breakfast, one of the Sandals staff members took us out on the hobie cat. Last time we were in Jamaica, Eric and I took one out on our own, but this one was bigger than the others, so we assumed that staff took people out on this particular boat, which was fine with us. There’s no way we would have been able to have the kind of ride we had without the staff person there. When we turned in the hobie cat, we signed out a kayak and paddled our way down the beach. This gave us a nice view of the resort. Afterwards, we hung out on the beach for a bit and then headed to The Bayside for the lunch buffet.

At around 3 or so, we headed to our Catamaran Cruise. This was the only excursion we signed up for because we really just wanted to relax. There were about 6 or 7 couples total and our cruise included snacks and alcohol. So we cruised along the ocean and made one stop so that we could get in the water for a bit. Then we headed to what the Jamaicans call “The Barder” which is the border between Westmoreland and St. Elizabeth parishes. They took us to this neat-looking cove area where the two parishes meet. Then, we headed back out to the open ocean to see the sunset. After the sun had set, the DJ turned the music up and everyone did some dancing as we pulled back into the resort. The cruise was really fun (though more expensive than it probably should have been), but Eric and I both got a little seasick. We took a similar excursion last time and had no problems, so we’re not sure if the person driving the boat was going faster than normal or if the waves were rougher than normal, but we both had moments of nausea so we didn’t drink as much as we would normally have.

When we got back to our room, we cleaned up and headed to Giuseppe’s for dinner. For some reason, I wasn’t very hungry but I ate what I could. We had Bruschetta and Caprese for appetizers and then I had a Capellini dish and Eric had Penne Carbonara. Then we headed over to Le Cabaret for a fun game show and the staff talent show. Afterwards, we got some snacks from Café de Paris to go and ate them on a beach bed on the way back to the room.

Unfortunately, this was the night that my change in eating habits got to me. About an hour after we went to bed, I woke up feeling really nauseous and ended up being up most of the night either in the bathroom or lying in bed trying to ignore my nausea. I think I finally fell asleep around 3:30. I don’t know if it was something I ate or what, though I think the fact that I don’t normally eat the way I had been eating probably played a role in it.

Jamaica (Monday, Day 2)

Monday, Day 2

We woke up fairly on Monday, even though we had been exhausted the day before. I think we were up at like 6:30 or something crazy, but once we woke up, we couldn’t go back to sleep because the view of the ocean from our balcony was so wonderful. So we dressed for a day at the beach/pool and went to breakfast at The Bayside, which basically has a huge breakfast buffet of just about anything you could ever want for breakfast, including made-to-order omelets, which we took advantage of several times while we were in Jamaica.

After breakfast, we signed up for a 10am snorkeling trip. We had been snorkeling the last time we were in Jamaica and it wasn’t that great. For some reason, the reef isn’t very colorful and there isn’t that much to see, which isn’t always a bad thing, depending on the kind of things you might see in another area of the ocean. This time wasn’t any different. While it was fun to go snorkeling, there wasn’t that much to see. But it was included in our stay, so it was something to do.

After snorkeling, we did a little shopping. Because Sandals Whitehouse is so far away from any of the cities in Jamaica, every Monday they bring in local vendors to set up their goods on the resort. That way, people can do some shopping local-style, and this provides a few more options than the gift shops on the resort. We bought some wood carving decorations, a dress for Anya, and a doll for Anya.

By then, it was about time to eat, so we headed over to Bluefield’s, which serves Jamaican fare. We had Bammie (a type of fried bread) and Ackie (a fruit). This is actually the Jamaican national dish. The other appetizer we had was some kind of hushpuppy type of thing. Eric had Jerk Chicken with Rice and Beans and I had a Red Snapper Sandwich with fries. Then, we headed to the beach for a bit to lay out.

At some point in the middle of the afternoon, we went to the Café and got ice cream and some pastries for a snack. Then, we met up at the pool just in time for a reggae “class,” where they taught everyone some reggae dance moves. There were lots of people doing this and it was pretty fun. Afterwards, we ended up taking another nap in the hammock.

That evening, we decided to eat at the Beach Party on the beach. It was a beach party buffet. The food was alright but we probably would go to one of the restaurants if we had it to do over. There was a band playing during dinner and then we stayed for the show, which was a circus-type show that included a contortionist, jugglers, and fire dancers. After the show, we got some coffee at the Café and went to The Bayside for some evening snacks of cheeseburger and fries before heading back to the room.

I realize it sounds like we did nothing but eat while in Jamaica, and that is partially true. However, the portions are much smaller than we have here, so two people eating 2 or even 3 appetizers isn’t really much food at all. However, I kind of like it that way because it’s not so wasteful and then you can try a lot of things. Honestly, the portions are probably the right size. At our particular resort, there were 7 restaurants: Giuseppe’s (Italian for dinner and they also serve pizzas from 3 to 5 every day), Neptune’s (Mediterranean or Seafood, open for lunch and dinner), Jasmin’s (Asian, only open for dinner), The Bayside (breakfast and lunch buffet and international fare for dinner), Café de Paris (bakery, open all day), Eleanor’s (Caribbean fine dining, open for breakfast and dinner), and Bluefield’s (Jamaican fare, only open for lunch or early dinner). There were lots of options so we tried to eat at each place at least once over the course of the week.

Jamaica (Sunday, Day 1)

Our trip to Jamaica was absolutely wonderful. We really hated to leave but having a beautiful little girl to come home to certainly made it a little easier. For this vacation, we spent 6 nights total in Jamaica, which we found to be an almost perfect length of time to spend. Of course, we had to spend an extra night away from Anya because the flight left from Louisville so early on Sunday morning. We ended up driving to Louisville late Saturday afternoon and got a “park and fly” room at the Sleep Inn near the airport. I think we must have gotten only 4 or 5 hours of sleep that night, if that, but it definitely beat getting up at 12 or 1 in the morning to drive to Louisville.

Sunday, Day 1:

We got up around 2:45 Sunday morning in order to get to the airport by 4. Of course, no one was at the check-in desk to take our luggage until after 4:30. I hate how airports insist on passengers checking in so early but then staff isn’t even present for this to even happen. Anyway, we did get our bags checked and through security with pretty much no problems. The only small glitch is that I was selected for a random security check that involved TSA swiping my hands with something to check for chemicals. I obviously did not have any chemicals on my hands and was waved through pretty quickly.

The flight itself was pretty uneventful, as was the flight from Charlotte to Montego Bay. The airport experience in Montego Bay was 100 times better than the last time. I remember waiting for what seemed like forever in the immigration line in no air conditioning the last time. This time was much simpler and the immigration line was completely non-existent until the passengers on our flight started to filter in. Also, the air was fixed, so it wasn’t as miserable as before.

After going through immigration and customs and getting our luggage, we quickly found the Sandals lounge. We were told the shuttle would be leaving for Whitehouse in 20 minutes, but we actually barely had time to grab a Red Stripe and text our families before they called us. Then we began the long (90 minute) journey to Whitehouse. The roads were much worse than before due to the potholes but we had a great driver and a much smaller shuttle than the last time, so it wasn’t anywhere near as scary. We made it to the resort in no time and were met with a welcome drink and a cool washcloth. Our room wasn’t ready yet so we grabbed some lunch at Neptune’s, the new Mediterranean restaurant. We had Seafood Tapas and Fried Calamari as appetizers and Eric had Mussels and I had a Chicken Caesar Wrap. While we were waiting for our food, we took turns running to the nearest restroom to change into our swimsuits and shorts. It felt so good to be sitting in summer clothes in warm weather!

After lunch, our room was ready and we were surprised to find that we had been upgraded. We had booked the lowest level room in the French village, which is the furthest away from everything, and ended up actually staying in a room in the Italian village, which was the closest to everything. We could also tell we had been upgraded by the kind of people we saw that were staying in that area. The room also actually seemed bigger, and like last time, we had a nice view of the ocean from our balcony.

Once we called our parents to let them know we were at the resort and to check on Anya, we went straight to the beach for a bit. When the sun started to go in, we relaxed in one of the hammocks on the beach. Then, we went back to the room to shower and get cleaned up for dinner. We had planned to go to the Italian restaurant but when we walked past the Asian restaurant, it smelled so good that we ended up eating at Jasmin’s. For appetizers, we had spring rolls, sushi, and a mushroom and wonton soup. Eric had a seafood stir fry in curry sauce and I had a beef stir fry that was really good. We don’t eat a lot of beef because it isn’t our favorite, but this was probably some of the best beef we’ve ever eaten. Instead of ordering dessert in the restaurant, we went next door to the Café de Paris for coffee, a crepe, and some pastries. We had definitely missed that place! It’s like a little French café that has coffee, ice cream, made-to-order crepes, and various pastries. The best part is that you can order as many as you want!

We then went to Le Cabaret, which is kind of like a little auditorium/theater type place where they have throughout the week. They did a newlywed game show with some of the resort guests which was really fun. After that, we stayed a little longer to listen to the band. Before heading back to the room, we relaxed on one of the beach beds near the whirlpool in our village.

Sunday was an extremely long day but it was great to be back in Jamaica. Sandals Whitehouse seemed almost exactly as it did before, though even more beautiful, as the landscaping has grown up quite a bit in the five years since we had been there. I will post about the rest of the week as soon as I get a chance!